An exploration of operator methods in the E⊗e Jahn–Teller problem

A new treatment of the E⊗e Jahn–Teller problem, which uses operator methods, is presented. An analytical expression for the energy spectrum in the weak coupling limit is found by analogy with Russell–Saunders coupling. The matrix elements for general linear and quadratic coupling follow from simple coupling Hamiltonians given in this Letter. The formalism presented is conceptually simple and easily extended to other systems.